Sooners to Compete in ITA Kick-Off Weekend

No. 17 Oklahoma Men's Tennis
Friday's Match	vs. No. 36 Notre Dame
Saturday's Match	vs. No. 16 Illinois or No. 39 Denver
Date	Friday, Jan. 28 at 2:00 p.m.
Location	Atkins/Khan Tennis Center
Internet	Live Scoring

NORMAN, Okla. - The 17th-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team travels to Champaign, Ill., to take on No. 36 Notre Dame on Friday, Jan. 28 at 3 p.m., in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The University of Illinois is set to play host to the event.

"It's going to be a good weekend," John Roddick said. "We play Notre Dame first who was a very young team last year, but at the same time they have a lot of talent. I don't think they lost anybody off that team so it is going to be a tough match indoors."

The Sooners (1-0) first opponent, Notre Dame (1-1), started off the season with a win over William & Mary, 6-1, and dropped their second match to No. 1 Virginia.

Also competing in the National Team Indoor Qualifier is 16th-ranked Illinois and No. 39 Denver. The two will battle following OU's match at 6 p.m.

"If we are fortunate enough to get through that (Notre Dame) then you have Illinois or the possibility of Denver. Illinois looks like they are going to be really strong this year, which will be a big challenge if we are fortunate enough to get to that point."

The winners of Friday's match will play at 6 p.m. Saturday, while the losers will begin at 2 p.m.

"All-in-all it is going to be a good experience for our guys and for our young guys to go and play against two big name programs. From that standpoint, win or lose, we're going to gain a lot of experience and hopefully we go out, play well and put ourselves in the position to win each match we are playing."

RANKINGS RUNDOWN

The Sooners are led by senior Ionut Beleleu and reigning All-American Costin Paval. Beleleu, a native of Romania, is ranked No. 26 nationally. Fellow Romanian Paval checks in at No. 57 and Peerakit Siributwong, a newcomer from Thailand, rounds out the rankings at No. 70.

Oklahoma has two ranked doubles teams and are led by 24th-ranked Beleleu and Paval. Sophomore Lawrence Formentera and John Warden, a freshman from Tulsa, Okla., comprise the No. 38 tandem nationally after a stellar fall campaign.

Notre Dame counters with four ranked individuals which includes: No. 71 Stephen Havens, No. 104 Casey Watt, No. 116 Billy Pecor and No. 122 Tyler Davis. In doubles the Irish are led by two ranked tandems in No. 47 Alistair Felton and Davis to go along with 58th-ranked Ryan Bandy and Sean Tan.

Illinois has three ranked singles players in No. 11 Dennis Nevolo, No. 111 Johnny Hamui and No. 121 Abe Souza. The Illini have one ranked doubles teams in 20th-ranked Dennis Nevolo and Souza.

Denver has one ranked player in No. 25 Enej Bonin.

Dual Match Records

Singles	1	2	3	4	5	6	Overall
1. Ionut Beleleu (Sr.)	1-0						1-0
2. Costin Paval (So.)		1-0					1-0
3. Peerakit Siributwong (Fr.)			1-0				1-0
4. Tsvetan Mihov (Fr.)				1-0			1-0
5. John Warden (Fr.)					1-0		1-0
6. Lawrence Formentera (So.)						1-0	1-0
7. Laurentiu Gavrila (Fr.)

Doubles	1	2	3	Overall
1. Ionut Beleleu /Costin Paval	1-0			1-0
2. John Warden/Lawrence Formentera		1-0		1-0
3. Tsvetan Mihov/Peerakit Siributwong			1-0	1-0

SOONER TENNIS NOTES

ALL-TIME SERIES RECORDS
The Sooners are 0-2 in the all-time series against the Fighting Irish. The last time the two faced one another was in 1994 when the Irish won 7-0.

Oklahoma is 4-1 all-time against Denver and holds a 1-2 record versus Illinois. The last meeting between OU and the Illini was in 1996 where Illinois won 6-1.

RODDICK ADDS GAVRILA
Laurentiu Gavrila, a Romanian native, comes to Norman with a multitude of accolades to his name, including a career-high ATP, Associated of Tennis Professionals, singles ranking of 888. In doubles Gavrila was ranked as high as 721 nationally. Gavrila is expected to contribute immediately for the Sooners.

LAST TIME OUT
The Sooners opened the 2011 campaign by sweeping Wichita State, 7-0, inside the Gregg Wadley Tennis Pavilion. OU won each singles match in straight-sets.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners to Compete in ITA Kick-Off Weekend

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